Fertile Crescent

1
Fertile Crescent
http//www.metahistory.org/images/HadesCave.jpg
By Shannon Ahern, Erica Granor, and Shannen Friel
2
Background Information

• Crescent shaped area in the middle east
• Rivers located near it are Euphrates, Nile, and
  Tigris
• Stretches from the Mediterranean Sea
• Can be found in present day Egypt, Israel, West
  Bank, Gaza strip, and Lebanon and parts of
  Jordan, Syria, Iraq, south-eastern Turkey and
  south-western Iran
• Located in Mesopotamia region
• Mesopotamia- means land between two rivers

http//www.hope.edu/bandstra/RTOT/INTRO/INT_FA.JPG
3
History of the Fertile Crescent

• After ice age, fertile crescent started
  agriculture
• Some early cities where it was located are
  Memphis, Jericho, Babylon, Suza, Assur, and
  Nineveh
• Known as the bridge between Africa and Eurasia
• Climate diversity and major climate changes
  formed new annual plants
• Nicknamed The cradle of civilization
• Rich food growing area where the rest of the
  land is too hot
• Mesopotamia ancient civilizations domesticated
  plants, and animals
• Began doing this with the sheep

http//www.keyway.ca/jpg/nile3.jpg
4
Fertile Crescent Then
http//www.learnersonline.com/weekly/lessons03/wee
k2015/041403-3.jpg
5
Fertile Crescent Now
6
Fertile Crescent Then (Information)

• Covered 15,000-20,000 square kilometers
• the ancient civilizations thrived off of the
  natural resources and crops grown here
• ten times more land then present day fertile
  crescent
• home to ancient civilizations like Babylonians,
  Sumerians, and Mesopotamians
• agriculture started here

http//www.awesomestories.com/biography/stories/ha
mmurabi/images/was_artist.reconstruction.jpg
7
Fertile Crescent Now(Information)

• Now covers 1,500 to 2,000 square kilometers.
• About 500,000 Marsh Arabs (descendants of ancient
  Sumerians and Babylonians who live in the fertile
  crescent) have been displaced from their homes
• many species are extinct or endangered
• some include the sacred ibis, and the smooth
  coated otter
• land is dry and unable to support life
• fisheries are impacted and produce less fish

http//www.geocities.com/stuffxm/dest.jpg
8
Importance of the Fertile Crescent

• Home to some of the oldest civilizations in
  history
• Civilizations include the Assyrian, the
  Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Hitties, and the
  Egyptians
• Ancient cities- Ur, Nuzi, Babylon, Nineveh, Mari,
  Jericho, and Alalakh.
• Stories in the bible take place in the Fertile
  Crescent

http//www.rocklin.ca/mesopotamia2500bc.jpg
9
Why it is being depleted

• 90 is lost because of drainage and damming
• Damming is going on upstream
• Tigris and Euphrates are two of the most dammed
  rivers on the earth
• Drainage has happened in the early 1990s in
  Southern Iraq
• Collapse of the Marsh Arab society hasnt
  helped
• Marsh Arab Society- helps to protect the
  wetlands in the Middle East
• Have been ignored warnings of this in the past

http//www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-01e.html
10
Other DepletedWetlands

• Mississippi River
• Rwanda
• The Everglades
• Algeria
• These wetlands all support wildlife with
  natural resources and are being destroyed.

11
Citations
"Fertile Crescent." Wikipedia. 2 Dec 2007
lthttp//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fertile_Crescentgt.
Cline, Austin. "Fertile Crescent Profile of
Fertile Crescent Region." The New York Times
Company 2007 2 December 2007 lthttp//atheism.about
.com/od/bibleplacescities/p/FertileCrescent.htmgt.
Dowling, Mike. "The Fertile Crescent."
Mr.Dowling's Mesopotamia Page. 01 Jan 2007. 2 Dec
2007 lthttp//www.mrdowling.com/603mesopotamia.html
gt. Melville, Duncan. J. "Brief History of
Mesopotamia." Brief History of Mesopotamia. 30
May 2001. 2 Dec 2007 lthttp//it.stlawu.edu/dmelvi
ll/mesomath/history.htmlgt. "The Fertile
Crescent, One Of The World's Most Important
Wetlands, Devastated By Drainage." 18 May 2001 2
December 2007 lthttp//www.spacedaily.com/news/eart
h-01e.htmlgt. ltwww.unep.org gt National
Geographic Encarta Encyclopedia 2007 ed
http//www.fort.usgs.gov/images/research_briefs/we
tland.jpg